As archery bows have been improved from the long bow to the recurve, to the compound and the improved compound bow, the load and shock applied to the limbs of the bow have increased dramatically. Limb breakage has increased significantly. U.S. Pat. No. 4,350,138 ascribes the breakage to transverse twisting of the limb and undertakes to solve the problem by axially splitting the limb. This simply applied half as much twist to half the limb and the breaking continued. The split limb construction results from providing a notch at the tip of the limb for the pulley in a compound bow. The provision of the notch, however, results in varying width asymmetrical limb elements and, in my opinion, this has caused twisting.
The split limb construction also develops another problem by way of inventory in manufacturing the bow or in replacement of limbs. Thus, the prior art required "right" and "left" side limb elements and both to be carried in inventory. Furthermore, when manufacturing the limb, the two halves of the split limb do not necessarily have the same flex characteristics and this can further compound the problem. Obviously, when replacing a single broken limb element the problem is even more severe.